The present application relates to water-based sliding amusement rides.
Background: Amusement Parks and Water Parks
Amusement parks have been a very popular industry for more than a century. Water parks are a recently developed, different type of park, which differ from the general purpose amusement parks in that the rides all involve water and the participants in many of these rides get very wet. Water parks are very popular in the United States, especially in the southern states.
People normally wear swimsuits to water parks, and the attractions typically include various types of swimming pools, as well as water rides.
This necessarily makes water parks a seasonal attraction, even more than would be dictated by school schedules. For example, amusement parks such as Six Flags Over Texas will typically open briefly during school holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Spring Break, and very large amusement parks such as Disneyland may never close at all. However, water parks can only be open when the weather is warm enough for swimming. This means that the cooler the climate is, the shorter the season is for a water park. Typically when the air temperature is below 75xc2x0 F., the admissions to the water park will be much smaller than when the temperature is over 80xc2x0 F.
Moreover, people in some countries simply do not like getting their clothing massively wet in a public ride in an amusement park. Standards of public modesty vary from country to country, and what is acceptable in the U.S. may not be acceptable in, for example, Japan or other oriental countries.
Background: Enclosed-Slide Rides
In amusement parks, one very popular type of ride is the Racing River Run ride. (The Racing River Run was introduced by New Wave Rides, Inc., but has subsequently been copied by other companies.) In this ride, patrons ride on a raft or sled through a tube which usually has circular cross-section and through which a substantial flow of water is routed. One possible configuration for a ride like this is shown in FIG. 4A, where two tubes 10, each capable of carrying a raft, parallel each other for much of the run, providing several sharp turns. FIG. 4B shows an alternate version, where the tubes 10 are intertwined to give the desired twists and turns. For example, in one prior ride version, the tubing will have a 48-inch diameter circular cross-section, and may go through 40 feet of vertical drop. For a downward angle which gives approximately a 20 second ride, over a distance of 350 feet linear, a typical set-up might use a 15-horsepower pump to provide approximately 900 gallons per minute of water flow through the ride. Riders enter the top of the ride on their raft or sled, and ride downward through the tubing, which is wetted and made slippery by the water. The tubing of the ride is typically fiberglass painted with gel coat paint, so that it is very slippery when wet. A lower flow of water can be used if desired, to provide a slower ride, or for use with a higher degree drop, but the riders will typically get wet in any case. (Because the riders do not actually sit in the water, this ride was publicized as a xe2x80x9cdry ride water ridexe2x80x9d, but nevertheless the riders do get wet, so this is not a dry ride in the same sense as the rides disclosed in the present application.
One of the principal locations where riders get wet in such a ride is at the curves. When the rider comes up to the curve, the bow wave of the raft or sled will ride up the side of the outer edge of the curve, and splash down onto the riders. This bow wave helps to assure that the outer wall of the curve is well wetted, but the inevitable result is that the riders do get soaked. Thus, this ride has always been a ride which is limited to use at reasonably high ambient air temperatures.
One of the main attractions of this ride, as compared to straight water slides, is the curving and the lateral movement. Moreover, the ride may also include transparent sections in the tubing, so that riders find themselves suddenly looking out over a view or even down over a vertical drop, which adds to the excitement. The ride may also contain other interesting features, such as loudspeakers to add sound effects.
In the Racing River Run ride, the ride path curves from side to side. However, the ride must steadily flow downhill, because the water flowing through the tube provides essential lubrication for the riders coming down. Such rides, while very popular, are fairly expensive to build and operate. One of the costs of operation is the water flow. The cost of continually operating a 15-horsepower (or more) pump, whenever the ride is available for use, is relatively high. A 15-horsepower pump will typically consume a little more than 15 kilowatts of electricity.
Dry Curved Water-Slide Ride
The present application discloses a new principle for water ride operation: lubrication is provided not by a flow of water, but by a spray of water on the weight-bearing surface of the slide, which is interrupted before each rider arrives. The inner surface of the ride will hold a water film for long enough for the raft or sled to pass through. This still provides high lubrication and a very fast ride. Additionally, this permits the ride to be operated with a much lower supply of water, and also has many other advantages. A crucial advantage is that the riders do not get wet. Another advantage is that heavy water piping to the top of the tower is not required. Another advantage is that the ride does not have to be constantly downhill, but can now include downhill segments. A further advantage is that, since the riders do not get wet, this ride can be operated at much cooler temperatures. A further advantage is that, since riders do not have to dress in swimsuits, this ride can be used in conventional amusement parks where the users are not expected to wear swimsuits.
Since the water in the slide is no longer necessary, it is preferably drained from the slide interior, so that water pools will not happen at the bottom.
The sprinkling is preferably turned off before the rider arrives. The simplest way to do this is simply to sprinkle the whole length of the tube, and then turn that sprinkling off before the riders arrive. An alternative way is to do this in sections, either using a timing relationship or using electric eye detectors to detect the approach of each raft or sled.